


Profiler, Profiled

by makingitwork



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Chess, Profiling, Spencer focused kinda
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-27
Updated: 2014-05-27
Packaged: 2018-01-26 18:37:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1698503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/makingitwork/pseuds/makingitwork
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Everyone, Hotch," Gideon said softly "Can be defined by the way they play chess."</p><p>The real reason Jason Gideon left the BAU.</p><p>Basically a chance for Gideon to profile his team members.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Profiler, Profiled

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoy?  
> x

"Everyone, Hotch," Gideon began "Can be defined by how they play chess."

"Not everyone plays chess, Jason," Hotch reminded diligently, as the two sat opposite each other on the jet. Spencer was asleep long ways on the sofa, Morgan beside him on an armchair, music blaring as he snored gently. JJ and Emily opposite each other, the remains of a card game on the table between them as they slept soundly. Hotch and Gideon were in the middle of a chess game. The board had been a gift to Gideon from Spencer, on his 40th birthday.

"You, for example," the older man sighed, gesturing to the game as he moved a rook forward two plates "Patience. You have a patient beginning, a patient middle game, an a patient end. You watch the other persons moves, but you have your own plan in mind. If one of their moves challenges that plan, you don't look for a way to fix your plan, but simply come up with a new one. And sometimes, you win," the dark haired man said nothing, simply arched an eyebrow as he moved his Queen diagonally to put pressure on the rook. "But sometimes, you lose." Gideon moved forward a bishop, and took the queen. Hotch gritted his teeth, nodding. 

"Alright, tell me about Morgan."

"Aggressive." Gideon said instantly "He's attacking as soon as he's moved his first pawn. Everything he does is aggressive. Each move is to take the other persons pieces. He thinks the best way to win, is to take away every piece the other player has. In real life, this indicates that he'll deal with most everything directly, while trying to keep each part of himself intact. He doesn't trust a single move that the other person makes. It makes him hard to beat, as nothing goes by him. But you can beat him, by forcing his moves,"

Hotch nodded, interested now "What about JJ?"

"She doesn't play." Gideon said simply "She's not hiding anything. Honestly, it's possibly the best thing to have if you're a profiler. Not minding if you get profiled. She's comfortable in her own body, in her own skill. And she's right to be."

Hotch looked around the plane, and his voice dropped "Emily Prentiss." The newest member of the team. 

Gideon met Hotch's eyes "She's hiding something, Hotch. She plays with an experience someone like her should not have. She could have beat me every time, but she lets me win, because she cares what people think of her. Too much."

"So I'm right to not trust her immediately?"

"She's trustworthy. Loyal. But she's hiding something."

Hotch sighed, and he smirked slightly "You're not going to tell me about your protégé?"

"Spencer," Gideon breathed, looking down at the chess board "When he plays...I see someone self taught. He practised with adults because no other child his age would play. He was fuelled by winning. He looked for faster ways to beat someone. The first time he lost, I think it was to his history teacher in college." Gideon let his eyes drift over to where Spencer was sleeping "He was confused, because he thought chess was a game that people who knew lots about maths and strategy should play and win. But for a history teacher, who couldn't do any sort of mental arithmetic to beat a teenager with an IQ higher than Einstein's? It fascinated him. And he decided to get a degree in history, philosophy, English literature, to add to his impressive qualifications of maths, biochemistry, chemical engineering and physics."

"How come he can't beat you?" Hotch frowned "He must know every possible move. He must know how to beat you."

"He does." Gideon sighed "And he tries his damned hardest every time, but deep down, in his subconscious, he doesn't want to beat me. Because then he's lost a mentor. A father figure."

"His subconscious is setting him up," Hotch nodded, leaning back in his seat and massaging his temple 

"One day he'll beat me, Hotch. And that's when I'll leave the BAU."

Aaron's eyes snapped open, vivid and green; "What?" he whispered 

Gideon nodded "As soon as I know, that he's done it. He's overcome his subconscious, I'm gone. The student will have become the teacher, and there'll be no need for me anymore."

"You're letting the future of you career reside in a chess game?"

"You can tell a lot about someone, by the way they play chess."

...  
...  
...

Gideon sat in the armchair of his office, opposite Spencer, as they played a game of chess. "We saved five people today, Gideon," Spencer beamed, moving his knight forward one, left two. Putting pressure on Gideon's unprotected rook. The older man moved his rook back one. "Why don't you look more happy?"

"The unsub didn't even regret it. He felt nothing."

"Yeah," Spencer frowned "We profiled that he was incapable of normal human emotions." He moved his pawn forward, trapping Gideon's rook and putting him into check. Jason looked down at the chess game and resisted the urge to smile. 

Two more moves, Spencer would have him in check mate. And Spencer was smiling like he knew. He'd won. "I'm going home, Spencer. We'll finish up some other time."

Spencer frowned, looking up curiously "Alright. Good night."

Gideon walked out of the BAU, and he never came back. Because he couldn't bare the thought of losing. Of ending it.

Chess can tell you a lot about a person. And what it can tell you about Jason Gideon is, when he can't win anymore, he sees no point in playing.

The almost finished chess game sits in Spencer's apartment, and sometimes he looks for ways that Gideon might have won. But there's nothing. 

Zugzwang.

A point in the game, when a player realises they are going to inevitably be checkmated, and they decide whether to play on to the bitter end, or to bow out.

Spencer would play on.

Hotch would play on.

Emily would play on.

Morgan would play on.

Gideon would bow out.

 

And JJ just wouldn't play.

**Author's Note:**

> I know stories like this don't get much credit, but if you did read to the end; thank you. Seriously.   
> x


End file.
